Jeremiah: Prophet of Courage

You have probably seen advertisements on television and in magazines that show people called "psychics" who, for a fee, are ready and willing to give you a glimpse of what they say the future holds for you. These "psychic hotlines" are popular because people want to know what is going to happen in the future. However, we need to realize that foretelling the future today is impossible, and that these "psychics" are fakes. 

However, the Old Testament tells us manypredictions of things that were going to happen in the future. Because the whole Bible was not in print during ancient times, God communicated with His people through special messengers called prophets. A true prophet was chosen by God, and received his message from God. A true prophet was supposed to reveal God's commands, and let His people know what would happen if they did not obey those commands. 

One of those special men chosen by God to be a prophet was Jeremiah. God's people in Jeremiah's day worshipped idols and false gods. They disobeyed the one true God time and time again, even though He had protected them for so long. God became very angry with His people, and it was Jeremiah's job to warn them of His anger. God would not put up with their sin! The warning that Jeremiah delivered to the people was that God would no longer protect them. As their punishment, God would allow His people to be taken to Babylon to live in captivity among their enemies for 70 years. This prediction that Jeremiah revealed was a harsh one, and was not received very well by the people. They made fun of Jere-miah, threw him into prison, and even plotted to kill him because of his predictions from God. Even though Jeremiah was afraid for his life, his faith in God gave him courage to continue delivering God's message, even among such strong resistance and persecution. Jeremiah was a prophet of courage.

Although God uses the Bible, and not prophets, to reveal His will today, each of us has a special task that is just as important. Let us have courage like Jeremiah to carry out the task of sharing the good news about Jesus and what He did for us!

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